Uttar Pradesh SIR: 1.30 Cr Voters Shifted

New Delhi: Permanent migration emerged as the biggest reason for electoral roll discrepancies in Uttar Pradesh during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR); official data shows that they constitute around 1.30 crore of the 2.88 crore “uncollectible” census forms identified so far.

According to data compiled till December 27, 2025, election authorities recorded 1,29,77,472 cases of permanent change of voters; They said this reflected large-scale interregional and interstate movement, especially in urban and semi-urban areas. This category alone accounts for 8.40 percent of the state’s voters.

The second largest category is voters who cannot be tracked or are not available; total 79,52,190 cases or 5.15 per cent of the electorate. Authorities attributed this largely to temporary migration, frequent changes of residence and incorrect addresses.

The fact that registered voter deaths amounted to 46,23,796 or 2.99 percent indicates that registrations, especially in rural areas, are out of date. Another 25,47,207 voters, or 1.65 per cent, were found to be registered elsewhere, while 7,74,472 forms, or 0.50 per cent, were classified under “other reasons”, including missing or incorrect details.

District-level trends show that urban centers such as Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Lucknow, Kanpur Nagar, Agra and Varanasi recorded high rates of non-collectible forms due to displacement; officials say this figure exceeds one-fifth of the electorate in some regions. Border and migration-prone districts, including Bahraich, Shravasti, Balrampur, Siddharthnagar and Maharajganj, reported a higher proportion of voters marked as untraceable or absent.

Election officials said classifying cases by death, migration, duplication and other causes would help eliminate ineligible and duplicate entries and improve the accuracy of voter rolls ahead of future elections.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has revised the SIR scheme in Uttar Pradesh. Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa said on December 30 that the draft electoral rolls will be published on January 6, 2026, and the final rolls will be published on March 6, 2026. Claims and objections will be invited from 6 January to 6 February, while decisions on claims and objections and numbering forms will continue until 27 February before the final register is published.